


And Build A Home

by littlegraybunny



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, fantasy illegal pet trade, mer!Sheith, mer!sheith becoming parents, modern day setting with a fantasy twist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29371020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlegraybunny/pseuds/littlegraybunny
Summary: Newly-bonded, Keith and Shiro explore their relationship and go on new adventures under Allura's care.
Relationships: Allura & Hunk (Voltron), Keith & Krolia & Shiro (Voltron), Keith & Krolia (Voltron), Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Krolia & Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 37
Kudos: 67





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Swim Into My Heart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29358495) by [PeaceLilies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeaceLilies/pseuds/PeaceLilies). 



> A while back, PeaceLilies wrote an amazing little fic about mer!Sheith, and it was so amazing that it inspired me to write this!!
> 
> A couple minor warnings for the first chapter: character illness, mentions of medical procedures, injury, infection, illness, gentle force-feeding.
> 
> Second chapter is mostly written but needs edits, so I hope it'll be coming soon! Comments fuel my writing, so any feedback is welcome!
> 
> Also, reading Sarah's fic gives context to this one, and I highly, highly recommend it!! Like everything Sarah does, it's fantastic!!

It was just a little spot at first. Allura noticed it while she was feeding Shiro and Keith—Shiro had a small laceration on his fin. Probably from swimming around the tank too fast, or from… mating too aggressively. Allura always tried to give her mers plenty of privacy when they were paired, but now she worried that they were being too enthusiastic.

“How did you get injured?” she asked Shiro as she signed to him through the glass. He shoved his piece of food into his mouth so he could sign with his free hand, which made both Allura and Keith laugh.

“I wasn’t looking and hit the cave wall,” Shiro signed back. “I’m okay.”

Allura made him promise to keep it clean and let her look at it once in a while, and he agreed. She was tempted to increase the frequency of the filter cycles, but she knew the filter frightened Shiro, and she didn’t want to cause her injured mer any undue stress.

The laceration was healing slower than she would like, though. She tried to warn Shiro not to stress his fin, but even with a plethora of mental stimulation, Shiro was an active mer. He swam laps often, now while chatting with Keith, and Allura found them playing games together sometimes, giving chase and swimming around the tank, taking turns hiding from each other. It was sweet, but Allura was worried.

Then, the day came when Shiro didn’t emerge from his cave for feeding. Keith swam up to the surface, which he was much better at doing now, and took his and Shiro’s portions before swimming right back to the cave. Allura could only guess that Shiro wasn’t feeling well, especially if he and Keith were still in their cave at this hour.

Allura called Hunk, who agreed to come over and give Shiro a check-up. He confirmed her fears that Shiro was likely suffering an infection that was slowing him down and making him feel sick. Allura paced nervously, worried for her mer, while she waited for Hunk to arrive.

Allura wasn’t one to intervene with her mers—especially Shiro. He had been through so much in his life, and her father had always impressed upon her how intelligent mers were, that with gentle suggestion they were more than capable of taking care of themselves. But a sickness like this was beyond the capacity of mers living in captivity—in the wild, the family group would have one or two members trained to heal. In Allura’s tank… it was only Keith, unequipped to treat his ailing mate. She could only imagine how scared they both were.

When Hunk arrived, Allura showed Hunk how neither of the mers would come at her signal, even when she signaled that she had food.

“If I brought him back to the lab, I have mers who could look after him,” Hunk said, adjusting his headband. “But it would require separating him from his mate, and transporting him… I’m worried the stress would be too much.”

“I agree,” Allura said, wringing her hands. “He trusts me… so I think I can get away with intervening myself. It’s Keith I’m worried about. He’s quite protective.”

Hunk nodded, mirroring her concern. “If you take care of Keith, I’ll get Shiro looked at and treated. Let’s set up the other tank and get the water treatment going.”

She and Hunk went about their work in tense quiet, setting up one of Allura’s smaller tanks for triage, with a hefty filter that would hopefully keep bad bacteria from affecting her sick mer. It wouldn’t be comfortable for Shiro to be out of his familiar tank, but Allura knew he would heal much faster in a cleaner environment.

It was agonizing to make the decision to disrupt Shiro and Keith’s cave to try to retrieve the mers. Allura never wanted to mess with her mers’ home environment or invade their space, but this was a matter of Shiro’s life. She hoped he would understand.

When she went to lift the magnetic lid off the cave, a flash of red flew out of the entrance, and she barely registered the sight of Keith before a sharp pain lanced through her finger. Keith was clamped down, wriggling like he was trying to tear flesh, and it took all of Allura’s fortitude not to jerk her hand away and potentially hurt Keith. After a moment of holding still, Keith pulled away and swam back into the cave, leaving a trail of Allura’s blood in the water behind him.

“Ouch—did Keith get you?” Hunk asked as Allura inspected her injury under a light. “What a bite. He almost took the whole chunk.”

“He hasn’t bitten me in months,” Allura said. “Not since before I transferred him to Shiro’s tank. He must be very frightened to do such a thing. Shiro may be worse off than we thought.”

Hunk gave her a sympathetic look as he bandaged her finger, and found her a thick glove that would protect her from Keith’s teeth. “We’ll get him fixed up, Allura,” Hunk said gently. “Don’t you worry.”

The second time, Keith bit her just as before, his fins up in an aggressive display while he wriggled and writhed and tried his best to rend the glove’s material. Allura’s heart broke at his frightened aggression, but she knew she had to cause him a little bit of stress to make sure his mate lived.

Revealing their living space made her heart sink. Keith had torn apart the plants in their tank to make a soft bed of leaves for Shiro to lay on, and the evidence of Keith’s attempts to make a poultice were scattered all over the floor of their cave.

Shiro looked worse than Allura had feared. He had almost completely lost his color, and Allura could barely see his gills move with shallow breaths. She could see the poultice Keith had fashioned, and she was impressed—it was something not all mers knew how to make, and she wondered who had taught him. But with all of the plants in their tank lacking medicinal qualities, it was a covering and nothing more. She dreaded to see the wound hidden beneath.

Keith had almost made his way through the glove, ripping and tearing and trying to find purchase on the rubber. But when it became clear Allura wasn’t deterred, he gave up and swam back to Shiro’s side. He puffed himself up in the most aggressive display possible, baring his teeth, his eyes wide and wild and slitted in terror. Allura’s heart broke for him—she should have intervened sooner, so he wouldn’t have had to nurse Shiro on his own.

“Keith, please,” Allura signed desperately. “I want to help him.”

But Keith just wrapped himself around Shiro, coiling his tail around him protectively and baring his teeth. Shiro was completely limp in his hold, his head flopping against Keith’s shoulder. Allura feared he had hours if they didn’t intervene.

“I’m so sorry, Keith,” Allura murmured, as she gently scooped her hand under both of them. “I’m going to save your mate.”

Keith released Shiro to try biting again, and it gave Allura the opportunity to scoop Shiro out of the tank and hand him to Hunk. As soon as Shiro left the water, Keith went wild—throwing himself against the glass, biting and tearing at Allura’s hand. She wanted to leave him in his familiar tank, where he could at least have the comfort of home, but she was worried now that he might hurt himself in his stress, and she couldn’t handle two injured mers.

“GIVE BACK,” Keith was signing, in between biting at Allura’s gloved hand. “NEVER FORGIVE. GIVE BACK.”

Keith’s sign language wasn’t quite as robust as Shiro’s, but Allura got the message all the same. She glanced at Hunk where he was bent over the triage tank. She knew putting Keith in with Shiro would mean a fight every time they needed to treat him. But they were so closely bonded, Allura feared the negative effects to both of them if she kept them apart. After Shiro’s previous experience, she didn’t want him to lose his fight if Keith wasn’t near.

She grabbed a glass fishbowl she’d been using as decoration—a gag gift from Coran—and emptied it of its contents, washing it out thoroughly and dipping it into Shiro and Keith’s tank to fill it with their water.

“If you want to see Shiro,” she signed to Keith, “get in.”

Keith eyed her with suspicion, but after a hesitant moment, he swam into the bowl. She lifted him out and brought him to the counter where Shiro was laying in the triage tank, pressing the bowl up against the glass. Keith swam to the edge of the bowl, singing out desperately to his mate, and becoming increasingly distressed when Shiro didn’t move.

Hunk had removed the makeshift poultice, and Allura gasped at the injury. What had been a small pink laceration on Shiro’s fin was now swollen and white, with an angry infected yellow pus leaking from it. In such a small body, the infection had to be wreaking havoc, and Hunk confirmed that Shiro had an incredibly high fever.

“Keith,” Allura signed to him until she had his attention. “Please. We are trying to save him. I couldn’t forgive myself if you became injured, too. I promise we will care for your mate. I would never do anything to hurt him—you know that.”

Keith looked skeptical and distressed, swimming around in anxious loops while he thought over her words. He stopped in every lap to press against the bowl and look at Shiro through the glass, and she could see his gills working with frantic breaths.

“You might have to give him something,” Hunk said sadly as he cleaned Shiro’s wound. “He could hurt himself if he’s that agitated.”

“I couldn’t do that to him,” Allura said. “He would never trust me again.”

“Keith please,” she signed again. “I know you’re frightened, but please try to stay calm.”

“HE SCARED,” Keith signed back frantically. “DOESN’T LIKE TO BE ALONE WHEN HE SCARED.”

“I know,” Allura signed back. “And you are such a wonderful mate… you never leave him alone when he needs you. I know that. But we need to treat his wound. He won’t make it if we don’t treat him.”

Keith swam a few more anxious loops, his chest heaving with panicked breaths, and Allura wished there was more to do to comfort him. If their positions were reversed, she knew Shiro would trust her with the safety of his mate, but she and Keith didn’t have that trust yet.

“I HELP,” Keith signed, banging his fist on the glass. “LET ME IN. I HELP. I MAKE POULTICE.”

“Shiro needs more than a poultice now, Keith,” she said gently. “He’s very sick. He needs medicine.”

“Allura,” Hunk said, and Allura and Keith both looked over. Shiro was refusing the dropper of medicine, even in his weakened state. He was turning his head away from Hunk’s gentle hands, writhing on his bed of leaves and dislodging the delicate bandage Hunk had put on his wound.

“I HELP,” Keith demanded again, and Allura looked at him through the glass, kneeling down to his level.

“If you promise to let Hunk work,” she said. “Shiro needs lots of help right now, and we need to be able to touch and move him. I will only let you in if you promise to let us help him.”

Keith shuddered with stress, and he swam one anxious circle before coming back to Allura and signing “PROMISE.”

Allura lifted the bowl to attempt to submerge it and let Keith swim out, but the moment the bowl was level with the lid of the triage tank, Keith made a swim for it and leapt from the bowl, arcing into the air and diving into the triage tank.

“Whoa—I’ve never seen a mer leap that far!” Hunk laughed incredulously, watching Keith swim down and wrap Shiro up in his arms and tail. He pushed the bandage back onto Shiro’s wound, and his gentle touches made Shiro settle back down almost immediately.

Allura’s heart broke for them. They were so closely bonded, more so than any other mer pair she’d seen. She couldn’t imagine the stress Keith was under, watching his mate waste away like this, and even now that they were reunited, Keith’s distress was obvious.

“Keith,” Allura signed. “Help us give Shiro medicine?”

Hunk presented the dropper again, pressing it to Shiro’s mouth, but the mer wriggled away again, refusing to open up. Allura didn’t know all of Shiro’s past, but she knew that after he was rescued from the oil spill, he had been kept in uncomfortable conditions in a lab while he rehabilitated, and while he watched his previous mate pass away. Shiro hated most medical equipment, loud filters, and confining tanks. She hated the idea that she might be traumatizing him by trying to save his life.

But Keith did as he had promised. He comforted Shiro so gently, kissing him and holding him close until Shiro settled. He motioned for Hunk to bring the dropper back, and Keith tenderly coaxed Shiro’s mouth open with his fingers, stroking Shiro’s hair as he guided the dropper in. Hunk was careful to administer the medicine slowly, but soon it was all gone, and Hunk pulled his hand out of the tank as Keith wrapped Shiro up, holding him close.

“What now?” Allura asked, wringing her hands.

“The medicine should take effect in the next twenty minutes,” Hunk said, sighing. “I’ll have to check his temperature every half hour or so—it should go down as the medicine does its job. We just have to trust the bandage, and… trust that Shiro will fight.”

Allura sighed, pulling up a chair to sit beside the triage tank. It was starkly empty compared to their home tank, with no decorations around to add bacteria to the water. Keith had lulled Shiro back into something that was close to sleep, and he stayed wrapped tightly around Shiro as he rested, stroking his hair and singing to him softly.

Allura didn’t realize she’d fallen asleep on her folded arms until Hunk accidentally bumped her while he reached in to take Shiro’s temperature. She had called Hunk right after dinner, but between getting the tanks ready, fighting with Keith, and treating Shiro, it was long past her bedtime. She asked Hunk to go home for the night but he refused, saying he would take catnaps on her couch between checking on Shiro. She knew he would also cook her a wonderful breakfast in the morning no matter how tired he was, because he was Hunk, and she owed him so much.

Each time Allura woke with Hunk to check on Shiro, she found Keith still awake in the tank—soothing Shiro through a fever dream, or simply holding him as he slept. “You’re a good mate,” she signed to him, but he ignored her, pouting into Shiro’s hair.

“His fever’s down,” Hunk reported happily at 2am, yawning around his hand. “I’ll give him another dose in an hour or so, and we’ll go from there.”

Allura agreed and sent Hunk to her bed for an hour nap, while she stayed in her chair and watched over her mers. Shiro hadn’t gained back any color, but she had to have faith in Hunk, and in Shiro. He’d pulled through so much in the past, and she had to believe he would pull through this.

Another dose of medicine and a few hours later, and Shiro’s fever had broken. The sun was starting to creep through the blinds, as Allura got a feeding dropper ready for Shiro, but Keith pushed the dropper away, motioning for solid food instead.

“He can’t chew right now,” Allura signed to Keith tiredly. “He needs to eat to get his strength back.”

“I FEED HIM,” Keith insisted, and Allura gave him the solid food hesitantly. He began to munch on it, and Allura knew she couldn’t blame him—he likely hadn’t eaten in hours—but before he swallowed, he pulled the chewed food back out of his mouth in small bits, and tenderly pushed them between Shiro’s lips, stroking his throat to help him swallow. He continued, tiny bite after tiny bite, chewing everything before carefully feeding it to his mate.

“You must have done this before,” Allura said, watching them in sleepy fascination. “Your poultice was excellent.”

Keith ignored her until more than half of the food she’d given him was gone, and Shiro was turning his head away from Keith’s fingers.

“MOTHER COULD DO BETTER,” he finally signed back to her.

Allura hadn’t been aware Keith knew his mother, coming from where he had. But she had a feeling she wouldn’t get his life story out of him now, and she left him to quietly feed his mate.

The filter cycle woke her from a nap she hadn’t realized she’d slipped into, and she looked up to see Keith comforting Shiro, who clung to him with his one arm, his tail twitching limply. Shiro had gotten better about filter noises with Keith around, but his defenses were lowered here, and this filter was louder than their normal one.

He seemed to be at least semi-conscious, with the way he was holding on to Keith, and Allura’s stomach unknotted at the knowledge that he’d made it safely through the night. Perhaps all thanks to Keith’s gentle attentions.

“MORE FOOD,” Keith signed to her, and she brought him more solid food, which he carefully chewed most of before feeding it to Shiro, slowly and patiently.

“Morning,” Hunk yawned as he padded into the room. “How’s Shiro?”

“I think he’s conscious,” Allura said, watching them with soft eyes. “Keith fed Shiro a few hours ago, and he’s helping him eat again now. I haven’t checked his bandage yet.”

“Oh wow,” Hunk said, watching them over Allura’s shoulder. “I’ve seen rescued mers do this before—it’s usually a behavior learned in the wild. Where did you say Keith was from?”

Allura shook her head. “He’s never told me. The rescue center I got him from said he was found washed up on a beach. But he said his mother taught him this.”

“Definitely born in the ocean then,” Hunk marveled. “Poor guy. Wonder if his family’s still in the wild.” He patted her back gently. “I’m gonna make omelettes. You want cheddar and apple?”

Allura smiled softly. “That’s my favorite,” she said, her heart warming for Hunk’s sweetness.

“Coming right up,” he chuckled, kissing her head before heading back out to her kitchen.

She watched Shiro and Keith for a little longer, observing as Keith fed Shiro until he refused another bite, before eating a little himself. She would have to address Keith’s health after all this, to make sure he wasn’t underfed from worrying about Shiro.

“Keith,” she signed after a while of quiet. “Where is your mother now?”

Keith was still for a long time, just holding Shiro close and kissing in his hair. Just when she thought he was going to ignore her, he lifted one hand.

“DON’T KNOW,” he signed, and left it at that.

A few hours later, and Shiro was finally conscious again. He was still sluggish and weak, his color not quite returned, and he could only sign a couple words at a time before his arm became tired.

“Okay,” he signed to Allura, the first thing he’d said to her in days. “Thank you.”

Allura urged him to take his time, rest with Keith, and that she would return them to their tank as soon as she was sure he was safe. He simply signed an agreement and nestled back into Keith’s arms, falling into sleep once more.

It only took a couple of days before Shiro was making slow, careful laps around the triage tank, with Keith’s arms around him to help him float. He was still weak, that much was clear, but his wound was healthy and pink as his scales slowly grew in over it, and he was well enough to sign and eat on his own. Keith stayed glued to his side, never moving his tail from its position twined around Shiro’s. He had lost a small amount of weight from stress and neglecting his own diet, and Allura could see that he was shedding scales, likely also from stress; Shiro was too tired and out of it to notice, but she hoped Keith would recoup on his own once Shiro was well. He was a strong mer, and he’d never been healthier than when he and Shiro had started to share a tank, and look after each other.

Transferring them both back to their own tank was a bit stressful in itself, and Allura had to coach them both for the short trip to ensure neither of them became injured again. But this time she supplied their tank with more plants, some having medicinal or pain-relieving properties, so that Keith’s small amount of medicinal knowledge would allow him to prevent these outcomes in the future. Keith didn’t say as much, but he seemed grateful when he noticed them, as he herded Shiro back into their cave, home at last.

She gave them space after that. With no hiding places in the triage tank, they’d both been exposed and on display for days, and Allura knew that tended to wear on a mer, especially in a mated pair. Keith let her throw food into the tank, coming out to retrieve it once she had left the room, but he and Shiro made more and more frequent laps around the tank until Shiro was back to his old self, signing through the glass and asking for puzzles.

Allura nearly had a heart attack a few days later when Keith came out of the cave without Shiro to retrieve food. Seeing her concern, Keith signed to her quickly. “SHIRO NAPPING,” he said. “PUSHED TOO HARD DURING MORNING SWIM.”

Allura breathed a sigh, preparing to simply drop the food in, but Keith swam up to meet her hand. She was faintly surprised, as she was sure she had broken her trust with him, but she was nonetheless grateful. He even touched her with his tiny hand-fin, giving her healing pink bite mark a little lick of apology.

She smiled, handing him the food gently. “I’m just glad you both are alright,” she signed to him. “I care about both of you. And I know how much you care for him.”

“THANK YOU FOR HELP SHIRO,” he signed back meekly, holding his and Shiro’s food under one arm.

“I’m always here to help,” Allura promised, smiling at him gently through the glass. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said, Keith. About your mother. If you don’t mind sharing, I would love to know what she was like.”

Keith seemed to think for a long moment, nibbling at his portion of the food. It was heartening to see him eating again, filling back out to his previous healthy weight.

“WAS SOLITARY,” he finally signed. “CAME BACK AFTER FATHER WAS KILLED. TRIED TO SAVE ME WHEN HUMANS CAME, BUT COULD NOT. DO NOT KNOW WHERE IS NOW.”

Allura softened, wondering if Keith thought of his family often. He seemed so happy here with Shiro, she would have never imagined he had family in the ocean. She could only imagine that the ‘humans’ he mentioned were traffickers, who hunted and captured mers from the ocean to sell in the illegal pet trade. If Keith’s school was captured, she knew his mother was unlikely to still be in the wild. She wondered how he got away.

“You have such pretty color,” she said, smiling as he blushed. “I bet your mother was just as lovely.”

Keith hesitated again, fidgeting with the food.

“PURPLE,” he finally said.

Allura was shocked. Purple mers were exquisitely rare, and almost never spotted in the wild. She had seen them more often in illegal pet trade, or even stuffed and mounted in horrific collections. If Keith’s mother was solitary and a rare purple, she was surprised he had known her at all.

Her stomach churned with indecision. She was honored Keith had shared even this much with her, and she didn’t want to pry. But if others of Keith’s school had ended up on the black market, she could only imagine what would have become of his mother if she had been captured.

“She was quite special then,” Allura finally said, seeing how Keith had become wary in her thoughtful silence. “I’m sorry, Keith—I simply know too much about how horribly humans can treat mers. I worry your mother’s rarity would make her a prize catch, especially if she was with your school.”

Keith tensed, but she could tell he’d had this thought before. She didn’t want to distress him, especially not when Shiro had just begun to fully recover.

“I know many people who are undercover in the illegal pet trade,” she said quickly. “They make sure mers are rescued and put into proper homes, or released if they can be. I will inquire if anyone has seen a purple mer. If she isn’t in the ocean, we will find her.”

Keith’s eyes were wide and wet, and he looked up at her with a wounded expression. Very few humans, it seemed, had ever shown Keith kindness, and Allura’s still took him by surprise at times.

“THANK YOU,” he signed, swimming back up to the surface. She reached her hand back into the water, and he touched her knuckle gently, his face a storm of emotions.

“I’m sorry,” she signed. “I shouldn’t have interrupted your day with this distressing news. Please, enjoy your meal with Shiro. Look after him. I’ll take care of everything. Just worry about yourself and your mate right now.”

Keith seemed to try to gather himself, giving a firm nod before swimming back down to their cave with the food. Allura felt lingering guilt for putting added stress onto Keith, but she hoped he would take her word and try to focus on himself.

But now, with her precious mer out of danger and on his way back to perfect health, she had a new objective.

She had a purple mer to find.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mystery of Krolia's whereabouts start to unfold, but Shiro's reemerging instincts throw the couple for a loop.

Shiro wasn’t in the cave when Keith woke up that morning. He woke up before Keith often, but usually stayed with him unless he slept through breakfast. But when Keith sat up, he noticed an odd pile of leaves and rocks in the corner next to where they slept, and he wondered what Shiro had been up to while he’d been asleep.

He wandered out to find Shiro swimming between their tank plants, humming to himself and inspecting leaves one by one before pulling his favorites off their stalks. He was wearing his necklace today, which always made Keith’s heart beat hard and fast in his chest.

“Morning, love,” Keith hummed as he swam up behind Shiro, careful to be heard, before sliding his tail against Shiro’s. “Did I sleep through breakfast?”

Shiro looked at him as if he were surprised to see him, almost in a sort of haze. Keith suddenly feared Shiro was in pain again, or sick, but then he smiled and pulled Keith in for a little kiss.

“Morning,” he hummed back. “You didn’t. I was just…”

He went quiet, looking at the leaves he’d tucked into the pouch he had to make up for his missing arm. Keith could see a few rocks inside, too, weighing it down against his tail. He seemed so far away, so strange, and Keith was worried.

“Shiro?” he asked, touching Shiro’s face with his finger. Shiro looked up, eyes wide, like he’d drifted off again.

“Keith,” he sighed.

“You were just what?” Keith asked gently, taking Shiro’s hand. “Is this… about what you were doing in the cave?”

Shiro looked nervous, disoriented almost, and he tugged his hand out of Keith’s to rub his eyes. “I’m sorry, Keith,” he murmured, but Keith hushed him gently.

“Sorry for what?” he asked, wrapping an arm around Shiro. “What is it, Shiro?”

“I w-was… I was nesting…” Shiro looked at him with wide, teary eyes, as if he’d just realized it himself.

Keith wasn’t quite old enough for the nesting instinct to have taken over, but he knew that a mer only got the nesting instinct when they were mated, and when they felt safe and settled, or when one of the pair was pregnant. Keith took a moment to feel honored that Shiro felt safe enough to nest, and that he trusted Keith to protect him and a hypothetical egg. Even if they couldn’t have one together.

“Shiro,” he sang, twining his tail around Shiro. “My star. It’s okay… You can nest if you need to. I’ll help you. I’ve heard the instinct usually fades after a little while.”

Shiro didn’t seem comforted, instead seeming like he was still in his head. Keith knew there was a filter cycle in only a few minutes, so he gently tugged Shiro back towards their cave.

Shiro placed the leaves and stones in his pouch on the little nest tenderly, arranging each item with care, but he still looked so upset, as if he was frustrated with himself for giving into the instinct. But Keith had always been taught that there was nothing wrong with giving into it, even if a mated pair couldn’t have an egg.

“Shiro,” he said again, curling up next to Shiro on the cave floor, in front of the nest.

“The last time I nested,” he murmured softly. “I was in the ocean. I was with my--with Adam--”

Keith understood now. Shiro still missed the ocean--just as Keith did--but memories of his former mate were even harder, and this was probably something he hadn’t thought he would have to relive. Keith wrapped his arms around Shiro, tugging him in close, and Shiro trembled faintly as he clung to Keith. He could only imagine how hard it was for Shiro to have lost his mate… especially when he’d wanted to raise an egg with him.

“There’s nothing for you to apologize for, my star,” Keith murmured, kissing in his hair.

“There is,” Shiro insisted. “I haven’t… I haven’t been honest with you, Keith. I’m not just nesting because you’re here. I’m… I’m nesting because I…”

Keith squeezed Shiro close, a little pit of sadness forming in his stomach.

“Because you want an egg,” he said softly.

Shiro’s only confirmation was a squeeze, and Keith squeezed right back. Keith didn’t know what to say--what did it matter if he also wanted an egg with Shiro? In the ocean, they at least had a chance of taking an unwanted egg, but in here…

His chest bloomed with grief. He guided Shiro back to their own bed, and laid him down gently, holding him. The filter came on outside, and neither of them moved, wrapped up in each other and silently processing the knowledge that Shiro was preparing a nest that would always be empty.

  
  
  
  


“Pidge, if you don’t get this door open in ten seconds, that’s two years of work down the drain. _Please._ ”

“He has more firewalls than I predicted, Matt! Just give me a second!”

“Guys,” N7 said through their comm link, her voice nervous. “They’re headed your way, Matt.”

“Pidge!”

“I got it, I got it!”

“Matt!” N7 cried in a hushed voice.

“It’s open!” Pidge shouted. “Go!”

Matt slammed the key card through the slot and slipped through the door sideways, closing it behind him as fast and as quietly as he could. He held his breath as the guard’s boots clicked closer to the door, and then passed without breaking stride.

“Why is there even a guard, anyway?” Pidge asked, as Matt caught his breath. “I thought this was a private residence. Isn’t that why you’re undercover in the first place?”

“Sendak is a gazillionaire, Pidge,” Matt whispered, as he tiptoed further into the room. “The only thing guys like him care about is protecting their property and making sure they stay gazillionaires.”

“Piece of shit,” N7 hissed. “Matt, tell me you’ve found it.”

Matt walked up to the wall behind Sendak’s polished mahogany desk, and took a breath, looking for the switch he knew was hidden there. It turned out to be a book--a copy of _Moby Dick_ \--that Matt pulled out of its place, only to hear the click of the latch as the bookshelf slid away into a hidden pocket in the wall.

If Matt hadn’t spent two years undercover as Sendak’s PA, trying to put him away for wildlife trafficking, he’d have to admit that was pretty damn cool.

“Matt?” N7 prompted again, her voice nervous. But Matt could hardly respond when faced with what he was seeing.

An entire wall, floor to ceiling, divided up into tanks housing _hundreds_ of rare mers. One protected mer was enough to get someone a fine in the quintuple digits and guaranteed jail time; hundreds of mers would put Sendak away for life.

“Jackpot,” Matt whispered, hearing the girls whoop and cheer in his comm as he whipped out his phone and started taking pictures. The mers were mostly hiding, likely frightened of anyone who might open this hidden compartment, but the few brave mers who were engaging in threat displays allowed Matt more than enough evidence. He uploaded the photos straight to his contact point with his boss, pausing at one of the tanks. The mer inside had her fins up in a threat display, her gorgeous scales glimmering in the gallery lights meant to show off Sendak’s ill-gotten prizes.

“I’ll get you out of here,” he whispered to her through the glass. “I promise.”

Very few things Matt had ever done in his life were as satisfying as the moment he got to flash his DOJ badge at Sendak, before opening the door to let half a dozen Fish & Wildlife agents into his private study, where his hundreds of trafficked mers were on display.

Matt prayed some of the mers would be able to go back to the ocean. Because their fins were so delicate, many trafficked mers were injured when they were captured, by uncaring traffickers just looking for money. It was more about color and virility than making sure a mer was intact and healthy. So many had to go to rescues, or be taken in by generous vetted enthusiasts who would keep the mers in comfort to live out their days in tanks.

“Matt,” N7 commed, from where she was outside coordinating other evidence gathering. “Don’t forget Allura’s purple.”

“Oh, right,” Matt said, smiling to himself. “What would I do without you, babe?”

“Forget everything,” she answered simply.

Allura had taken in so many of their most troubled mers, ones who couldn’t be released or even donated to preserves or aquariums. Her father had had friends in Fish & Wildlife, and had taught Allura how to care for rescued mers since she was young. Matt was grateful to call her a friend.

She had a mer who claimed his mother was a solitary purple. Even an avid collector like Sendak would be lucky to find a purple on the black market, and Matt had only seen one or two come out of collections like these in his eight years working for the DOJ.

He managed to wheedle one of the Fish & Wildlife agents into letting him see the inventory, as so many of the mers had already been sealed away in the tanks they would use to transport them.

Lots of cobalts and star whites, which were a staple in illegal collections. A few reds, two very rare jets…

_Purple (f).............1_

Matt was shocked. Sendak had to have friends deeply entrenched in the black market to get his hands on a female purple. If nothing else, it meant he might give some of them up in exchange for a small reduction to his prison sentence, and that alone had Matt dancing for joy.

He couldn’t wait to message Allura. He’d found her a purple.

Allura ran her fingers around the corner of the photograph nervously. She had received word a few days ago from her friend Matt that his latest bust had turned up a purple mer female, like the one she was looking for. It had taken him until now to get her a photograph, as all of the mers in his perp’s collection had to be processed.

She was stunning. Like all purple mers, her coloring wasn’t simply in her scales--her flesh was also a beautiful lavender, and she kept her deep violet hair in a simple shorn cut. She was making a threat display to the camera, and Allura could see all of her brilliant purple fins.

She had promised Keith that she would look for his mother, but now that she had this photograph, she had so many fears. What if it wasn’t her, and she broke Keith’s heart? What if it was her, and she failed to convince the Department of Fish and Wildlife that she could give the beautiful mer a proper home? What if it was her, and she was well enough to be released into the ocean?

Still, Allura knew that no matter what, Keith would want to know that his mother was alive. She would feel the same way, if it was her father. She took a deep breath and walked into the room with her tanks.

Shiro came out to greet her, as he tended to, expecting a puzzle. He turned his head inquisitively when he saw the back of the photograph clutched in her hand.

“Keith?” she signed to him, and he turned and swam into their cave, returning with Keith. The two of them clearly were nervous, and she wasn't sure how to put them at ease. Her news could be good, or it could be bad, and she wouldn't have answers either way for a while.

“Puzzle?” Shiro signed to her, and she sighed.

“Not today,” she signed back. “I’m sorry. I have news. Keith, a friend of mine has found a purple female in a private collection. I want to show you a picture of her, to see if it’s your mother.”

Keith immediately pressed himself to the glass, his eyes wide. She knelt down, frowning at him.

“If it is her,” she signed. “I will do my best to bring her back to you. But she may be well enough to go back to the ocean, and I will have to let them release her. Do you understand?”

Keith nodded quickly, signing clumsily. “YES, UNDERSTAND. PLEASE SHOW.”

Allura sighed again, turning the photo around and pressing it to the glass. The change in Keith was immediate--his tail and fins shuddered, and he plastered himself to the glass, as if he might be able to touch the mer in the photograph if he tried hard enough. Shiro swam up to him hesitantly, and Keith turned into his arms, shivering as Shiro held him and wrapped their tails together.

“Keith?” Allura signed.

Keith and Shiro sang to each other for a moment, curled in each others’ arms. Shiro lifted his eyes to Allura, and signed to her with his one hand. “It is her,” he said.

“I _know_ you’re not sneaking out of here with a couple thousand dollars worth of _my_ equipment.”

Lance winced, his shoe squeaking on the linoleum as his narrow escape ground to a halt. One of the many downsides of working with his sister was that any sneaking skills he’d mastered in their childhood home correlated to the trouble radar that Veronica had honed in the very same place.

“You… wanted me to get footage for that… educational thing they’re doing. That’s where I’m taking it.”

“You wouldn’t need the full carrying case and two charged batteries if you were just taking it down the hall to the mer tank,” Veronica said, finally turning her swivel chair around to level a disbelieving look at him. Suspiciously like a supervillain--all she needed was a fluffy cat in her lap.

“I’m taking precautions,” Lance hedged.

“Yeah right,” Veronica huffed. “It’s my super-advanced camera. I deserve to know where you’re _really_ taking it.”

Lance glared right back. “Our mers here at the aquarium get constant enrichment. Don’t you think a couple mers we settled through the Program would benefit from something like this? In their tiny little tanks? No other fish to play with?”

“Sure,” Veronica shrugged. “Now look me in the eyes without blinking and tell me this isn’t an elaborate excuse for you to go see Allura.”

Lance didn’t know when the last time was that he’d blinked, but suddenly his eyes felt dry. “It’s not,” he said.

“You hesitated,” Veronica said.

“Fine! I think her mers would be great for the footage you need.”

“And you want to hover around her and pretend like you’re drumming up the courage to ask her out to dinner. Hey, don’t let me stop you. Just sign the damn camera out instead of trying to sneak it out under my nose. I would have called security on you.”

“I’ll ask her out!” Lance argued, as Veronica went back to her computers.

“Uh-huh,” she answered.

Allura had noticed things were a little off with her bonded pair.

They were both such energetic mers, but recently they hadn’t been playing quite as much, or singing to each other as they swam around their tank. It had been days since Shiro had asked for a puzzle.

She didn’t want to pry--sometimes even mers had… well, marital problems. Perhaps they were simply sad, about something or another. She tried to confirm that neither of them was sick or injured, but they didn’t seem up to talking.

And then she realized why.

She glimpsed their nest when she was cleaning the glass of their tank. One of them had been nesting, but there wouldn’t be an egg to put in the nest. Not between two males in captivity. Mers were known to rear children in groups, and pregnant mers who didn’t want their eggs freely offered them to same-sex mated pairs or unbonded mers who wanted to raise babies. But the other mers in Allura’s care were too young to be making eggs, and were unlikely to mate with each other. She had no eggs to offer them.

The egg-shaped rock they’d settled in the middle of their nest as a placeholder nearly made her cry.

There was a chance that it was simply the nesting instinct, which would explain their sadness. She knew Shiro had never nested in his time alone, since his previous mate had died. She imagined it had to bring up a lot of painful memories, and serve to remind them that they couldn’t return to the ocean.

But there was also a chance… that they did want an egg. They were the most closely-bonded pair of mers Allura had ever seen, and were both sweet and nurturing enough that she was sure they would make wonderful parents.

The only matter, then, was how to get them an egg, and whether they would want one.

“Shiro,” she signed to him the next day, as she brought them food. “I… noticed you were nesting with Keith.”

She knew she was right about the cause of the couple’s somber mood, simply from the way Shiro wilted as she called him out.

“Yes,” he signed back simply.

“Do you two… want to raise an egg?” she asked carefully.

Shiro looked at her, a little wounded and sad. “Yes,” he signed again. “We have talked about wanting an egg. But we cannot.”

Allura smiled softly through the glass at her poor mer. He’d been through so much, and he had made himself content with his lot, finding the small joys in tank life and in sharing that life with Keith. He rarely asked for more, even when Allura wanted to give him everything.

“Shiro,” she signed slowly. “I have many friends who keep rehabilitated mers, just as I do. If I ask around, I bet someone would be able to find me an egg.”

Shiro dropped the food he’d taken from her fingers, and it drifted to the tank floor. “You would find an egg for us?” he signed, his hand-fins shaking a little.

Allura smiled. “If you are both sure you want an egg, I will start looking,” she promised.

Shiro swam a few tight, excited circles, before swimming right down to their cave to find Keith--only to stop halfway, and swim back to the surface to sign to her.

“Yes, yes!” he signed. “Yes, please Allura! Thank you! Yes! I will tell Keith! Thank you!”

She giggled as he turned to swim back down to the cave, darting right in, the dropped food forgotten.

She had asked so much of her network lately, between getting help with Shiro’s injury and her search for Keith’s mother. But she had a feeling that for her two little lovebirds, her friends might be willing to help out one more time.

“What did you say this was for again?” Allura asked, hovering a little more than she knew she should. She trusted Lance, of course--he knew his way around mers--but she still worried for her little friends.

“The Aquarium’s Animal Ambassador program is putting together some educational films about mer behavior. Research is saying that if we show mers in captivity and teach people about how they live in the wild, it will help with the trafficking problem.” He flicked on a small button, and the battery pack he’d stashed under the table began to glow green. “There we go!” he said. “All ready.”

“I’ll get them to come out for you,” Allura said, but Lance just smiled.

“No need!” he said. “We want them to interact with it totally naturally. Just like wild mers would with a foreign object.” He rolled the small, ball-shaped camera in his hand, before holding it over the gap in the lid that Allura had opened for him. With one last nod of consent from Allura, he dropped it in, and they both watched it sink to the bottom of the tank.

Nadia came out first, always the boldest, to investigate the camera. Lance had set up a tablet with the recording facing away from the tank, and Allura watched in fond amusement as Nadia circled it, her curious expression captured on film.

Ina was next, always attached to Nadia’s fin, and she inspected it from the other side, rolling it over in the gravel. The camera had a gyroscope, so the view was always pointing at the mers, even as they amused themselves with rolling it along the floor of the tank.

James and Ryan came out before long, and the four of them began tapping the new object, lifting it, tossing it between them. Allura gave them puzzles often, just as she did for Shiro, but with their combined curiosity and never-ending energy, they tended to solve them rather quickly. They weren’t unlike cats, Allura thought in amusement, as she watched them throw the camera-ball through their reed forest. Even if she bought them expensive enrichment toys, the four of them could find just as much amusement with the box.

She looked over to find Lance staring at her, but he averted his gaze quickly, clearing his throat. Allura knew he had plenty of mers at his disposal for this kind of thing, and she didn’t quite buy the story that her mers were uniquely qualified to educate the masses. But she didn’t mind the company, and Lance was sweet.

“This is all, uh, great stuff,” Lance said, moving around her in the tight space to watch the feed on the tablet. “They seem like they’re having fun.”

Ryan had lifted the camera and began peering into the lens, following the others around with it as if in a game of tag.

“They are,” Allura hummed. “They’re a fun little pod.”

“Where are your other ones?” Lance asked, gesturing to Shiro and Keith’s tank. Usually the two would be making laps, playing, singing to each other, but the tank was quiet. Allura pictured them huddled in their cave around an empty nest, and her heart ached.

“Nesting,” she sighed, crossing her arms. “Poor things. I know Shiro desperately wants an egg, but… most of the other mer owners I know don’t have breeding pairs at the moment. It’s proving difficult to find them one.”

Lance bit his lip. “Maybe the aquarium can help,” he shrugged.

“Lance… you release your newborns into the wild. It’s where they should be--I wouldn’t want to take a wild mer--”

“Not even for your favorite pair?” Lance said with a little smile, knowing Allura would do just about anything for her mers. Especially Shiro. The first time they’d met, she’d talked Lance’s ear off about Shiro’s rescue and recovery, how proud she was of him for overcoming such adversity and adjusting to tank life.

Allura sighed, watching the young ones play with the camera. “I’m just not sure,” she said. “If I knew a breeding pair in captivity with eggs to spare, it might be different. But an egg from your Program…”

“Then I’ll… I’ll reach out. The Aquarium knows plenty of people. Sometimes we get calls about trafficked collections… eventually, someone will have an egg that needs a home. I’ll put you on our list to call.”

Allura smiled at Lance, grateful that he was so willing to help. Even though her list of trusted mer-owning friends was dedicated, it was short. Having the Aquarium as a resource would greatly expand her search area, and gave her some hope for her favorite pair.

“Thank you, Lance,” she said softly. “That means a lot.”

Lance beamed, his cheeks flushing adorably. “‘Course,” he said. “No problem.”

“I’ll probably have to work on finding a larger tank, if the boys are going to grow their family,” Allura sighed. “This whole room could use a facelift.”

Lance kicked a piece of the thin linoleum tile that was coming up near his sneaker. “Don’t you get a stipend from the program?” he asked.

“It goes to food, supplements, enrichment… I have a little saved up, but not enough to do everything.”

“I could help,” Lance said quickly. “I mean--cutting labor costs can help bring the budget down. I used to help out with my uncle’s deck business in the summers in high school, so I can… swing a hammer.”

Allura chuckled. “You don’t have to do such a thing,” she said. “I’ll find a way.”

“You don’t have to,” Lance argued, a little more gently. “I’d be happy to help. I bet Hunk would, too. We know how important your mers are to you. They deserve a good environment.”

Allura looked back up at Lance, touched by his words. “The best we can give them,” she agreed, echoing words her father used to say. She pictured him bent over these tanks at her side, showing her the wonder of mers, their intelligence and kindness and ingenuity. She held no illusions that she could do the necessary renovations on her own… but if an egg was coming, let alone another mer, she would need to be ready to give them the best home she could.

Lance smiled at her, a tender thing that almost took her breath away. “I can start next weekend,” he said. “I’ll borrow some tools from my uncle. He may even have some wood we can use, to build some tank stands.”

Allura returned his smile, and this time the flush was in her cheeks. “Thank you, Lance,” she said, touching his arm gently. “You’re the best.”

“N-no problem,” he said, clearing his throat again, as Allura hid a giggle behind her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all again for reading, I'm so excited by how well-received this fic is!!! Thanks again to Sarah (@PeaceLilies) for encouraging me to write and publish this piece, otherwise it would have rotted away in my WIP pile!
> 
> Leave a comment to let me know you're liking it!! ;w;

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! <3


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